While on vacation in California, I was having a discussion with my wife (an atmospheric scientist), and a friend (an archaeologist). I am a Developmental Geneticist. So we were three scientists from three very disparate fields. I have been a scientist for 20 years. My wife for much shorter time and my friend for much, much longer. So we come at it from different chronological perspectives.

And one thing we each have encountered is the huge lack in science of the reporting of negative results. There is a perception in science that one must prove your hypothesis correct or it is not worth reporting. So when someone posits a hypothesis and DISPROVES it (which is common and healthy in science) they cannot publish it until it can be paired with related positive data. That often doesn't happen for years and sometimes is never published if the work goes in a different direction. This, of course, leads to many people repeating the same negative data over and over because they are unaware that it has already been disproven already by many other researchers.

This can be quite a waste of time and resources.
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I actually met Tyson on our way to New York at Washington DC's Union Square Station. I was with Chris Rabb of Afronetizen and we just bumped into him.

Chris just started talking to him and I was just standing agog. He actually reminds me of Fuzzy Bear from The Muppets. A really, really smart and sexy Fuzzy Bear. Make that what you wish.

I love this clip because the point he wants to make is that the universe was not made with us in mind. He also had the audacity to have pictures of aborted fetuses with extreme birth defects to make exactly that point.

Takes balls of steel in today's political environment to do that.

PS : As per his wikipedia entry, NdGT was vote the sexiest astrophysicist in the United States by People Magazine.

Studies into the "causes of homosexuality" are extremely controversial. They should not be controversial because people don't like what they imply. Rejecting science because you don't like what it tells you is similar to believing in creationism. But, scientific studies of the sort that show a "cause" of a complex behavior are always suspect. Many have later been discredited or found to be flawed. But, as a scientist I do find it surprising how complex behavior DOES seem to be linked to physical aspects of our selves, including to brain structure and genetics.

Some studies claim that homosexual men have a tiny part of their brain that looks more like the equivalent brain region in women than the male version. This work was done quite some time ago and I know that back then people considered it suggestive but flawed.

More recently, studies have linked homosexuality to having older male siblings. On the one hand such studies are very hard to do well and should always be considered with skepticism. On the other hand, a more recent study not only confirms that correlation, but also suggests that the mechainism for it is in mom.

From BBC News:
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Time is the most used noun in the English language, says the new Oxford Dictionary.
Most abused too?

Have you noticed Big Government and Big Business have effectively taken over all our time, one way or another? -- colluding to micromanage jobs and markets, most of which become ossified and inescapable School requirements 'round the clock and calendar:

Back to School: A Time to Rethink Time
By Milton Chen

Another year has passed, and schools are still captives of an outdated calendar. . .

The news (why do we call it that? Because we're controlled by TIME!) often makes me want to stage a clock-and calendar burning on the steps of some capitol building -- anywhere in the western world will do.

Time that used to belong between doctors and patients belongs to the UK government now. Busy bureaucrats do random appointment book checks, to guarantee every individual an appointment on either short or long notice, 48-hours being the magic time of demarcation, yada yada (another Oxford term in the news.)
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